Time will often set the world on fire, but a phoenix will always rise from the ashes. Such was the case with Philadelphia Industrial EBM outfit GENCAB. While working on a sophomore album following 2008’s II transMuter, David Dutton lost all remnants in a hard drive crash. Feeling defeated, he shied away from developing industrial music for the better part of the next decade, moving from New Jersey to Philadelphia.
During that time, he and fellow GENCAB live member Tim Van Horn joined industrial pop outfit Aesthetic Perfection. After that, David started Crown of Pity as an outlet to explore anhedonia, self-doubt, and alcoholism under a blanket of deceptively-happy songs. By the third album, however, it was evident that Dutton’s sentiments were about to shift back to his long-lost roots.
The result is the track “Taper”, from the forthcoming album Thoughts Beyond Words. The same soul-searching sentiment comes through as Depeche Mode’s Songs Of Faith and Devotion; the anthem is highly emotional, gut-wrenching, and a highly charged song for a collective crisis.
“Taper is kind of half metaphorical and half literal about myself going through withdrawal from my anxiety medications last year,” Dutton explains. “I tried a few times before and couldn’t stop completely cold, so I built this 10-week plan to taper myself off of it. The first half was easy, but as I got closer to the end I would wonder if I even wanted to be the type of person that didn’t get to buffer themselves from real life. And of course, even though I took it as slow as possible, I had to fight myself to not just give up all the work I did. That song kind of encompasses all of the hell and insomnia I developed, as well as the excuses I tried to make for myself that I had to fight off for the last week. before my body went back into balance and that weakness all died.”
Listen to “Taper” below:
Self-produced in a 300-year-old mill over a hidden creek in Pennsylvania during the pandemic of 2020, the brand-new album, THOUGHTS BEYOND WORDS, is the full culmination of throwing yourself into your work. The collection of songs ranges from industrial to synthpop, IDM, and darkwave and discusses topics such as ego death, obsession, addiction, global warming, and sacrifice as progress.
“Being alone in the woods allowed for the creative process to be louder and unhinged,” Dutton explains. “Sounds pumped through slashed amplifiers, singing and screaming until throats literally bled, and no outside distractions had given birth to an album that is as much catchy as it is chaotic at times.”
Thoughts Beyond Words is out Jan 21st on Negative Gain. You can pre-order here:
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